Britain and France, then, would move ahead with their plans for a land invasion of the Suez Canal. Hoping to forestall this, the Canadian delegation at the UN, with strong American backing, proposed the creation of a UN peacekeeping force that would enter the Canal Zone and do the job that Britain had arrogated to itself. On the evening of November 3 the UN endorsed this proposal by an overwhelming vote of 57–0. The British and French abstained. But it was a race to see who would get there first: British and French soldiers or the blue-helmeted UN troops.
